#so we had security council meetings and wrote newspaper articles and held press conferences

[terrypender]

RCM{ Security Service Spied on Gays During Cold War Purges

WATERLOO REGION — Cait Glasson had a quick look around before walking into Hall's Lane in downtown Kitchener and stopping in front of an unmarked door, and knocking.

It was a gay club, tucked into the alley just off Gaukel Street, that went by different names over the years — The Half & Half, Full Circle and the Pink Zone. It was known only to members of the LGBTQ community.

The cover on a small opening in the door at eye level slid to the side, and a pair of eyes looked out at Glasson. It was snapped shut, the door opened, the attendant moved to the side and nodded at Glasson. She was allowed to pass.

"They ran speakeasy style, basically," said Glasson, 51. "They had an opening in the door, and they had to know who you were, or you had to be able to say somebody's name to get inside."

This was in the early 1990s. Glasson knew all about the need for discretion. She had been unceremoniously removed from her job with the federal government in the mid-1980s because of her sexual orientation.

Now Glasson plans to travel to Ottawa on Tuesday to watch and listen as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises in the House of Commons to make a formal apology to the LGBTQ community. On behalf of the country, Trudeau will apologize for the anti-gay purges of the civil service, military and federal agencies that occurred during and after the Cold War.

Unknown numbers of people were fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Ottawa believed gays and lesbians could be blackmailed by Russian spies. The thinking at the time was simple and brutal — queers were a security risk.

"If you were gay and you were caught, that was that," said Glasson.

And the RCMP Security Service, which was replaced by CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) in 1984, played a key role in this dark chapter of Canadian history. It had a national reach with security service detachments in all centres of industry and education, including Kitchener-Waterloo.

The security service spied on the LGBTQ community. It added names to files labelled "Known and Suspected Homosexuals." It sent those names to Ottawa where senior bureaucrats secured resignations and dismissals based on information collected by security service.

In the 1960s, then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau changed the criminal code, legalizing homosexuality. In announcing that, Trudeau delivered what has become one of the most famous quotes in Canadian politics: "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."

But even after he became prime minister, the national security campaigns against gays and lesbians continued.

In Waterloo Region, the security service followed individuals, maintained files on gay rights groups and recruited informants to spy on meetings and identify people attending, according to documents obtained by the Waterloo Region Record under the federal Access to Information Act.

"I am not surprised," said Glasson. "Any of us who were active assumed we were being monitored."

In April 1971, the University of Waterloo Gay Liberation Movement was formed and the security service opened a file on it. A month later, it published its first newsletter, and the security service grabbed a copy.

"Volume 1, No. 1, June 1971 issue of Gemini, the publication of the Gay Liberation Movement at the University of Waterloo. This publication contains an editorial by John Dunbar, the president, as well as an article by Joel Hartt," says the security service report.

A member of the security service, or an informant, provided detailed information about a meeting of the League for Socialist Action, which was held at 33 Queen St. in Toronto on Aug. 31, 1971.

"One of the women from the audience stated the Gay Liberation Movement in Kitchener-Waterloo was having trouble attracting women, and wondered whether there were any experienced members in Toronto who might assist in this matter," says the security service report.

"It was felt that possibly a separate women's organization might be useful rather than a combined organization such as the one in Toronto," says the report.

The Kitchener detachment of the security service filed a summary report on "organizations of interest" on the UW campus, covering the period from September 1971 to December 1972. The Gay Liberation Movement is listed.

It aims "to provide social, educational and cultural activities for homosexual students and staff on campus," says the report. The report notes the 1972 membership was about 50.

When gay rights groups at UW and Wilfrid Laurier University amalgamated, the security service was interested. "A Current list of active Canadian gay groups is taken from the Operation Socrates Handbook, a project of this new group, which was funded via the Opportunities for Youth Project," says a report dated Nov. 23, 1973.

The Operation Socrates Handbook lists the name and address of every gay rights organization across Canada, a contact person, and the services offered by each group.

"A copy of the Handbook will be available at this office if requested," says the security service report.

A superior officer reviewed that report, and asked if people named in it should be "carded," or added to the permanent files of suspected gays the security service maintained. "Bearing in mind our primary function in (this area) is security/homosexuality as it relates to government service," says the handwritten note.

The security service files are full of clippings of articles about gays from the UW student newspaper The Chevron, the Record, the student paper at Western University called The Gazette, The London Free Press and the Toronto Star. Individuals and organizations of interest named in the articles are underlined, indicating the security service maintained a file on them.

The security service in the London detachment reported on a women's dance held at the Homophile Association of London, known as the HALO Club on June 30, 1977. That report was shared with the Kitchener detachment, probably because some people from this area went to the dance.

"Discreet surveillance on 30 June '77 revealed a sizeable turnout of women for this event. It is estimated that approximately 100 persons, mostly women, were in attendance. While some of those attending arrived on foot and several by taxi, many of the participants could be traced to a vehicle in the area," says the report.

It appears the security service was interested in the dance because of a new alliance between lesbian and feminist organizations in London.

"It is felt that the women's working alliance and this lesbian activity is related. The number of people involved indicate that this organization is becoming a political and social force for London women," says the report.

When members of the LGBTQ community announced a dance, the security service took note of the organizers' names for its files and spied on the gathering.

"Attached is a clipping taken from the 4 Feb. '72 edition of the University of Western Ontario newspaper, the Gazette. This clipping indicates a projected 1,500 gay students on the University of Western Ontario campus. It will also be noted that they now have an office in Room 107A, Somerville House at the university, and regular office hours Monday through Friday. Interested persons are asked to contact George 439-8529," says a security service report dated Feb. 7, 1972.

Bruce Walker is a retired lawyer living in Kitchener. He did a lot of human rights work when he practised law, and will travel to Ottawa to hear the prime minister's apology for the anti-gay purges.

"We were all under surveillance," said Walker. There were "a lot of suicides, all that stuff."

When someone lost their job with the federal civil service or the military, the news spread through the LGBTQ communities.

"It was just common knowledge that if you were active there would be police about, they were going to make notes," said Walker. "I imagine there is a great, long file on me somewhere."

Homosexuality was taken out of the criminal code in 1969. In 1984, the Canadian Charter of Rights Freedoms came into effect. In response to a charter challenge, the Canadian military rescinded its ban on gays and lesbians in 1992. The federal government legalized same sex marriage in 2004. And next week comes the apology for the anti-gay purges.

"Discrimination has been an issue I have dealt with all my life, and it will be refreshing to hear somebody like the prime minister say: 'I am sorry,'" said Walker. "I am taking my dancing shoes. Looking forward to it."

The scope of the anti-gay purges first became public in 1992. Dean Beeby, a former reporter with The Canadian Press, obtained several documents under the Access to Information Act that detailed the RCMP Security Service program to identify gays employed by the federal government.

Gary Kinsman, a sociologist, studied and pursued this subject for more than two decades when he was a professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Working with Patrizia Gentile, they produced a report in 1998 on the national security campaigns against gays and lesbians. That report called for an apology. They also wrote a book about called "The Canadian War on Queers.

After retiring, Kinsman was among the founders of the We Demand an Apology Network in 2015. Spokespeople for the network and the NDP held a joint media conference in Ottawa, calling for an apology.

The network made a formal submission to the federal government last year.

"So we have been waiting for a long time," said Kinsman. "It is also important to point out there are a lot of people who needed to be apologized to are no longer with us, they have passed away."

After working so hard and long to effect the apology from Ottawa, Kinsman turned down an opportunity to sit on the advisory council that was formed to help shape and craft the official apology. The government was demanding secrecy about the work of the advisory panel, and Kinsman said he could not agree to that.

Along with the apology, Kinsman wants the government to make public the files and policies related to the anti-gay campaigns.

"There has been incredible silence and invisibility around these campaigns, so it is important," said Kinsman. "All we know is thousands of people lost their jobs in the military and the federal civil service because of this."

tpender@therecord.com , Twitter: @PenderRecord

[terrypender]

Secret Police Files on Gays

WATERLOO REGION — Cait Glasson had a quick look around before walking into Hall's Lane in downtown Kitchener and stopping in front of an unmarked door, and knocking.

It was a gay club, tucked into the alley just off Gaukel Street, that went by different names over the years — The Half & Half, Full Circle and the Pink Zone. It was known only to members of the LGBTQ community.

The cover on a small opening in the door at eye level slid to the side, and a pair of eyes looked out at Glasson. It was snapped shut, the door opened, the attendant moved to the side and nodded at Glasson. She was allowed to pass.

"They ran speakeasy style, basically," said Glasson, 51. "They had an opening in the door, and they had to know who you were, or you had to be able to say somebody's name to get inside."

This was in the early 1990s. Glasson knew all about the need for discretion. She had been unceremoniously removed from her job with the federal government in the mid-1980s because of her sexual orientation.

Now Glasson plans to travel to Ottawa on Tuesday to watch and listen as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises in the House of Commons to make a formal apology to the LGBTQ community. On behalf of the country, Trudeau will apologize for the anti-gay purges of the civil service, military and federal agencies that occurred during and after the Cold War.

Unknown numbers of people were fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Ottawa believed gays and lesbians could be blackmailed by Russian spies. The thinking at the time was simple and brutal — queers were a security risk.

"If you were gay and you were caught, that was that," said Glasson.

And the RCMP Security Service, which was replaced by CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) in 1984, played a key role in this dark chapter of Canadian history. It had a national reach with security service detachments in all centres of industry and education, including Kitchener-Waterloo.

The security service spied on the LGBTQ community. It added names to files labelled "Known and Suspected Homosexuals." It sent those names to Ottawa where senior bureaucrats secured resignations and dismissals based on information collected by security service.

In the 1960s, then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau changed the criminal code, legalizing homosexuality. In announcing that, Trudeau delivered what has become one of the most famous quotes in Canadian politics: "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."

But even after he became prime minister, the national security campaigns against gays and lesbians continued.

In Waterloo Region, the security service followed individuals, maintained files on gay rights groups and recruited informants to spy on meetings and identify people attending, according to documents obtained by the Waterloo Region Record under the federal Access to Information Act.

"I am not surprised," said Glasson. "Any of us who were active assumed we were being monitored."

In April 1971, the University of Waterloo Gay Liberation Movement was formed and the security service opened a file on it. A month later, it published its first newsletter, and the security service grabbed a copy.

"Volume 1, No. 1, June 1971 issue of Gemini, the publication of the Gay Liberation Movement at the University of Waterloo. This publication contains an editorial by John Dunbar, the president, as well as an article by Joel Hartt," says the security service report.

A member of the security service, or an informant, provided detailed information about a meeting of the League for Socialist Action, which was held at 33 Queen St. in Toronto on Aug. 31, 1971.

"One of the women from the audience stated the Gay Liberation Movement in Kitchener-Waterloo was having trouble attracting women, and wondered whether there were any experienced members in Toronto who might assist in this matter," says the security service report.

"It was felt that possibly a separate women's organization might be useful rather than a combined organization such as the one in Toronto," says the report.

The Kitchener detachment of the security service filed a summary report on "organizations of interest" on the UW campus, covering the period from September 1971 to December 1972. The Gay Liberation Movement is listed.

It aims "to provide social, educational and cultural activities for homosexual students and staff on campus," says the report. The report notes the 1972 membership was about 50.

When gay rights groups at UW and Wilfrid Laurier University amalgamated, the security service was interested. "A Current list of active Canadian gay groups is taken from the Operation Socrates Handbook, a project of this new group, which was funded via the Opportunities for Youth Project," says a report dated Nov. 23, 1973.

The Operation Socrates Handbook lists the name and address of every gay rights organization across Canada, a contact person, and the services offered by each group.

"A copy of the Handbook will be available at this office if requested," says the security service report.

A superior officer reviewed that report, and asked if people named in it should be "carded," or added to the permanent files of suspected gays the security service maintained. "Bearing in mind our primary function in (this area) is security/homosexuality as it relates to government service," says the handwritten note.

The security service files are full of clippings of articles about gays from the UW student newspaper The Chevron, the Record, the student paper at Western University called The Gazette, The London Free Press and the Toronto Star. Individuals and organizations of interest named in the articles are underlined, indicating the security service maintained a file on them.

The security service in the London detachment reported on a women's dance held at the Homophile Association of London, known as the HALO Club on June 30, 1977. That report was shared with the Kitchener detachment, probably because some people from this area went to the dance.

"Discreet surveillance on 30 June '77 revealed a sizeable turnout of women for this event. It is estimated that approximately 100 persons, mostly women, were in attendance. While some of those attending arrived on foot and several by taxi, many of the participants could be traced to a vehicle in the area," says the report.

It appears the security service was interested in the dance because of a new alliance between lesbian and feminist organizations in London.

"It is felt that the women's working alliance and this lesbian activity is related. The number of people involved indicate that this organization is becoming a political and social force for London women," says the report.

When members of the LGBTQ community announced a dance, the security service took note of the organizers' names for its files and spied on the gathering.

"Attached is a clipping taken from the 4 Feb. '72 edition of the University of Western Ontario newspaper, the Gazette. This clipping indicates a projected 1,500 gay students on the University of Western Ontario campus. It will also be noted that they now have an office in Room 107A, Somerville House at the university, and regular office hours Monday through Friday. Interested persons are asked to contact George 439-8529," says a security service report dated Feb. 7, 1972.

Bruce Walker is a retired lawyer living in Kitchener. He did a lot of human rights work when he practised law, and will travel to Ottawa to hear the prime minister's apology for the anti-gay purges.

"We were all under surveillance," said Walker. There were "a lot of suicides, all that stuff."

When someone lost their job with the federal civil service or the military, the news spread through the LGBTQ communities.

"It was just common knowledge that if you were active there would be police about, they were going to make notes," said Walker. "I imagine there is a great, long file on me somewhere."

Homosexuality was taken out of the criminal code in 1969. In 1984, the Canadian Charter of Rights Freedoms came into effect. In response to a charter challenge, the Canadian military rescinded its ban on gays and lesbians in 1992. The federal government legalized same sex marriage in 2004. And next week comes the apology for the anti-gay purges.

"Discrimination has been an issue I have dealt with all my life, and it will be refreshing to hear somebody like the prime minister say: 'I am sorry,'" said Walker. "I am taking my dancing shoes. Looking forward to it."

The scope of the anti-gay purges first became public in 1992. Dean Beeby, a former reporter with The Canadian Press, obtained several documents under the Access to Information Act that detailed the RCMP Security Service program to identify gays employed by the federal government.

Gary Kinsman, a sociologist, studied and pursued this subject for more than two decades when he was a professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Working with Patrizia Gentile, they produced a report in 1998 on the national security campaigns against gays and lesbians. That report called for an apology. They also wrote a book about called "The Canadian War on Queers.

After retiring, Kinsman was among the founders of the We Demand an Apology Network in 2015. Spokespeople for the network and the NDP held a joint media conference in Ottawa, calling for an apology.

The network made a formal submission to the federal government last year.

"So we have been waiting for a long time," said Kinsman. "It is also important to point out there are a lot of people who needed to be apologized to are no longer with us, they have passed away."

After working so hard and long to effect the apology from Ottawa, Kinsman turned down an opportunity to sit on the advisory council that was formed to help shape and craft the official apology. The government was demanding secrecy about the work of the advisory panel, and Kinsman said he could not agree to that.

Along with the apology, Kinsman wants the government to make public the files and policies related to the anti-gay campaigns.

"There has been incredible silence and invisibility around these campaigns, so it is important," said Kinsman. "All we know is thousands of people lost their jobs in the military and the federal civil service because of this."

tpender@therecord.com , Twitter: @PenderRecord